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by Kiba Sniper
Summary: As their characters idle and the chiptune music plays on, Beast Boy and Cyborg discuss the past, present, and future.


This fic was written for Things Change: A Teen Titans charity fanzine following the growth of the animated Titans from childhood to seniority! I was extremely honored to be selected for it, especially since Teen Titans meant so much to be growing up and helped shape me as a writer. Leftover sales are currently happening through November, 2019, and can be found here over at bigcartel. Thank you so much for having me!

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Garishly bright letters mocked Beast Boy as the controller slipped from his fingers. As he lost his last life in Mega Monkeys 4.2, he felt his soul ebb away from his body. He slumped into the couch cushions, his half-lidded gaze watching the numbers trickle down to zero, his screaming monkey subsequently jailed.

High scores flashed across the darkened screen. His final total of 650,000 should have made him smile. He assumed no one would have been able to beat him, but Raven's name crushed his initials, her solid score of 800,000 a marvelous sight to behold.

He didn't know when, how, or why she started playing. She wasn't one for noisy, cartoony video games, preferring her books and meditation over rapid gunfire and animated explosions. She had criticized the game when she found him staying up late, saying it was too annoying and ruining his sleep schedule, but the way her lips quirked into a terse grin when he completed a stage gave him the opportunity to ask if she wanted to join him, which she flatly declined.

_Guess she took me up on it when I wasn't looking, _he thought, shaking his head. Rolling his shoulders back, he grimaced as his bones popped. He rubbed a knot out of his neck, his own tenseness surprising him. His spine twinged, his posture crooking to the left as he leaned into a pillow, and although he managed to ease out the knot, a dull ache settled in the small of his back.

"Sit like that, BB, and you're gonna get a bad hunch."

His ears twitched, and an involuntary yelp spat past his fangs. Whipping around on the couch, his dinner plate eyes locked on to the smirking Cyborg, and he blurted, "Dude! When did you-?" He jabbed his finger at the double doors. "I didn't even hear you come in!"

"Man, I've been standing behind you for almost twenty minutes. I even made myself a sandwich around the ten minute mark." As Beast Boy groaned and buried his face in his hands, he snickered. "I had no idea Raven cared about Mega Monkeys. She always gave it a bad rap."

Slumping into his seat like withering leaf, Beast Boy glared at the title screen. Pixelated clouds crawled across a cerulean sky. A monkey bounced up and down on a scarlet spring, performing a variety of spins and somersaults while enemies passed by him in the background. He thumbed the start button, his failure fresher than an open wound, and he chucked the controller, watching it bounce off the GameStation.

Rolling his eyes, Cyborg leaped over the couch. To say Beast Boy was acting strange was an understatement. He adored Mega Monkeys, memorizing level layouts and special character abilities from past entries in the series. He blazed through every stage in the previous game when they returned from their battle against the Brotherhood of Evil to prepare himself for the newest game, and he reveled in the enhanced single player campaign once he got his hands on a copy, finding many hidden routes and secret boss rooms much to his starry-eyed delight.

Together, they had stayed up late one night after their triumph and immersed themselves in the co-op mode. As the moon reached her highest point in the sky, Cyborg had noticed Beast Boy's thumbs moving slower. A haze fogged his vision as he made beginner mistakes. Slipping off the level, miscalculating a jump, or shooting Cyborg's monkey with an electro-laser, his errors seemed to worsen as the game dragged on until Beast Boy uttered a hollow laugh and said he was done for the night.

Taking the controller, Cyborg hit the start button and leaned back. He flicked the analog stick and scrolled through the extended cast of monkeys, saying, "You got somethin' on your mind."

"What gave it away? Tossing the controller?" He straightened, clapping his hands onto his knees and smirking. "It was tossing the controller, right?"

"Yeah, that might've been it." Cyborg picked his character, a robotic chimp with dual laser arms. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Beast Boy drag his thumbnail along his cuticles, paying only half a mind to the game as he began firing at enemy mooks.

Silence followed like a cool breeze. Electronic blasting and shrill squeaking filled the void between them. Occasional harsh clicks from Cyborg's controller intermixed with the background music's chaotic drumming and blaring horns as he moved his character through a maze of peeled bananas and bottomless pits.

"I saw her again," Beast Boy said, resting his knuckles to his cheek.

His thumb hovered over the pause button, but he continued playing. "'Saw her?'"

Swallowing down her name, Beast Boy closed his eyes. He still felt the students gather around and through them until she became nothing more than a shadow on his thoughts. Lifting his head back, he muttered, "I met Terra again."

"We know you did. That's-"

"No, no, I mean I met her _again_ again." He leaned forward and wrung his hands together, his brows knitting. "When you guys were fighting that...thing, I was with Terra."

His breath caught in his throat. He paused his game, the screen idling on his monkey in the middle of jump. Setting the controller on his thigh, he gazed down at Beast Boy.

"She was…" He unclenched his fist, letting it rest in-between the couch cushions. "I think she was happy. Maybe." He puffed out a chuckle. "She didn't study for her geometry test."

She had slipped into the shadows as students crossed between them. Each backwards step in that dim hallway felt like a mile stretching between them. The distance seemed immeasurable and insurmountable, as if he would never be able to reach out to her and offer his hand like he had done many times before.

Even though Beast Boy trusted Terra's decision, it broke his heart like a fist smashing through a mirror. Terra had meant the world to him. She was different from the other Titans, accepting his jolly, joking persona without ever sneering or brushing him aside. She was a traumatized girl, which skewed her perception and trust. When he thought back to his time with Mento, he could understand very well why she couldn't open up to them even during her most wretched moments.

Cyborg followed Beast Boy's thousand-yard stare as he peered back to the game. He seemed to be leering through the screen to the outside, taking in invisible clouds and a vacant sky. It was the same pitiful expression Cyborg had seen too many times crossing Beast Boy's features. He knew how special Terra was to him, how she befriended him over with true sincerity and kindness, a genuine interest in being with him only for those feelings to become contaminated by a monster and her own inability to trust them.

"You did your best, BB. So did she."

He carefully chose his words and let them linger. Waiting for Beast Boy to reply, Cyborg turned towards him and wrapped his strong arm around his narrow shoulders. He drew his friend closer to him when he lowered his chin to his chest, the faint scent of sea salt drifting in from an open window.

"It was tough, huh? Seeing and talking to her again."

"Yeah, dude. I kept asking her join." He shrugged. "I guess Terra really wants to move on."

"Letting her go doesn't mean we gotta forget her. We can still check in from time to time. Make sure she's okay." He chuckled. "Maybe she'll even change her mind one day and come back. It's all up to her."

Beast Boy sucked down a breath, held it, and then exhaled in a deep sigh. He clung to the faint hope that she would one day return with a smile and open arms just as she had done with the sun setting behind her. He knew they could help her with whatever she needed, but Terra had made her decision and trekked down a path with trembling fists swinging at anyone who tried shoving her off.

"And even if she doesn't, that's okay. We'll keep looking out for each other like we always have." Cyborg rubbed a knot out Beast Boy's shoulder, his tenseness reminding him of the time he had become a snarling beast. "Right, man?"

A flock of seagulls soared past the windows. They crooned and squawked, filling the silence which followed his tender words. Their light gray feathers fluttered in the wind, some of them flying off from a particularly harsh gust, reminding them of the way her hair billowed in that same breeze when she stormed by on her boulder.

"Hey, Cy?"

"Yeah?" He waited with bated breath, his eyes slightly widening.

Beast Boy slowly bobbed his head. He leaned back into the couch, his gaze pinpointed on to something Cyborg couldn't see. He tried following his deep green eyes, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the living room.

Keeping his grip steady on his shoulder, he lowered his voice and asked, "You gonna be okay?"

"I think…" He smiled, the corners of his mouth dimpling. "...I think we all are. Yeah, I think we're all gonna be okay." Rubbing his neck, he snickered. "Sorry for getting sappy there, dude."

"Hey, I like a sappy Beast Boy over a miserable one." He gently elbowed his shoulder and beamed brighter than the sun. "Now, you wanna get in the game or am I gonna beat Raven's score by myself?"

"Oh, let's do it!"

He swiped the controller off Cyborg's thigh and exited his game. As Cyborg rolled his eyes and lamented getting off of the couch to get another controller, Beast Boy felt like he could smile forever.

They were both in better places. She was safe in her school with her tight knit friends. Surrounded by the Titans and their allies, so was Beast Boy. They endured trauma and hardship in their lives, culminating into a whirlwind admiration for each other, which quietly ended as they marched on their separate paths.

Yet, the future wasn't set in stone. The roads they journeyed could very well cross as they continued forward. If that day arrived, as Beast Boy shared a smile with Cyborg, he hoped they all could meet Terra again to say what was left unsaid.


End file.
